Canadian Rockies - Emerald Lake, Lodge Office / The Dreaded "M" Setting

Our brother-in-law wanted to visit Emerald Lake after reviews claimed this to be the "Jewel of the Rockies", and they were right!  This is the sight that greets visitors on their way to the lodge, though most of the trailheads were behind and to the left of this perspective.

A closer, more quaint view of the lodge office:

The water was so still and reflections so clear that I spent a lot of time making them as perfect as possible.  Whenever the lake was the primary or secondary subject, a separate layer of just the reflection(s) was created, which was adjusted for tone, contrast and exposure.  Think it was worth the effort.

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It is about now on the trip that I switched from taking pictures in the "P" setting to capturing them in the dreaded "M" setting.  This resulted in far fewer wasted shots, though they are still bracketed (3 frames at 0.7 stop between each).  Really a breakthrough, as you really need to know what you're doing to shoot everything in Manual mode.  So I crossed a threshold.  Better late than never, and never too late to take your skills to the next level!